Digital Diablo III Purchases ‘Restricted’ For Up To 3 Days

June 22nd, 2012, 02:25

Well I thought I might as well share this story as it seems Blizzard can't stay out the news this week. With the German trial and free refunds to Korean players.

People who purchase the game digitally are now being told that their copy of the game will actually be a starter edition for up to 72 hours. Why? A support agent says “…it is a necessary step to combat fraud and other malicious activities that can weaken everyone’s play experience.” What I’m gathering from all of this is that “everyone’s” play experience seems to be a lot more important than anyone’s play experience.

In case you’re not sure what the starter edition contains, here’s the details:

Act I up to the Skeleton King is available

Level 13 cap

Matchmaking available only with other Starter Edition players

No Auction House access (Real Money or Gold)

Global Play is not available. Players attempting to connect to Diablo III Starter Edition in a region other than their Battle.net Account’s home region will receive Error 12. See the Global Play support article for more information.

At least Players who remain unsatisfied will be able to apply for a refund between June 25 and July, as long as they're below level 40. Players below level 20 will be able to get a refund within 14 days of purchasing the game from now on. Additionally, Blizzard will offer a 30-day free trial of StarCraft: Wings of Liberty.

Well the 72 hours is supposed to be just to give them time to make sure that the new account is legitimate. However, I'm not going to defend them on this one, it's pretty clear that 72 hours is way overboard, even if that is just the maximum amount of time.

Right now though, the actual details of what's really going on are a bit fuzzy. It's clear that Blizzard screwed up in some fashion, but there hasn't been much in the way of official statements, outside one blizzard tech on a forum somewhere, which if you know Blizzard, is far from a completely reliable source. Many think that this is more of a technical screw up then an official policy. Time will tell.

Originally Posted by zahratustra
And how first 72 hours figure into that? You mean people are capable of committing fraud and other malicious activities only for 3 days?

I wonder if any other company ever dares to implement the same thing in their single player games. I know I will never purchase another game that has the "features" D3 has. What an absolute joke this whole fiasco has become.

— We satisfy our endless needs, and justify our bloody deeds, in the name of destiny, and in the name of God.

— “ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)

Well in only one day blizzard changed there stance. I guess negative press had something to do with it. I especially love how it's not there fault and it's only temporary caused by there patch. Just take the blame and quit telling lies.

You still have to wait but now its only one day. It's not meant to impede your playing as spoken from the mouth of blizzard.Bullshit.

Two aspects of the up to 72-hour waiting period digitally purchased versions of Diablo III now undergo before full functionality are unintended, Blizzard tells Kotaku, and will be addressed "as soon as possible." The delay (which they say can be as short as one day) is to allow them to process credit card information before allowing unverified accounts the ability to buy and sell items and access areas of the game where commerce is conducted. But it is not intended to impede player's progress as it currently does. Here's word:

However, as an unintended consequence of these security measures, players who purchase the game digitally after patch 1.0.3 are temporarily being capped at level 13 and not able to proceed beyond Act I. We are working to correct this as soon as possible and will provide another update when we have more details to share.